Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Reverse IKEA Hack

Happy Wednesday, all! This past weekend my sister and I took on some major DIY/home reno projects at her place. One of our favorite final pieces was this chest of drawers below. The piece was a gorgeous oak with minimal finish, but didn't fit the rest of the furniture in the room, which was all IKEA in the brown black color. So, with a can of paint and some tools we took the following steps below to make it match. To take on this project you'll need the following materials:

Step 1: We prepped our outside space with a paint tarp, and removed the drawers from the base and began the process to strip it from its current finish. We placed some of the Strypeeze in the pant tray and brushed it on the drawers and base, letting it set for 15-20 minutes. Note: I worked all weekend in my Kate Spade Keds. Who said Kate Spade can't go with home renovations? :)

Step 2: After the time was up we took a putty knife to begin peeling away the current finish. Be sure to press very lightly with the putty knife as to not damage the wood. After the finish had been removed we began hand sanding with squares of 100 grit sandpaper. This is the most laborious part of the process and the most critical step. The key to making sure that the refinished piece looks nice is making sure all of the old finish gets removed.

Step 3: After sanding is complete take your hand scrubber and can of paint thinner and apply it to all the sanded areas. I just pour a bit on the wood and used the hand scrubber to buff it out. Once the wood has been buffed take one of your old t-shirts and wipe off any remaining debris left from sanding and wipe down. Let dry completely before beginning the painting process.

Step 4: Next is the fun part - time to paint! For this specific project I choose paint over wood stain. Wood stain can be tricky to work with and you really have to sand down the piece to ensure the stain sticks. Since I am still a novice at these projects, I did not think I was ready to to take on the wood stain. For this project the goal was to have the furniture match the color of existing IKEA furniture in the room. We chose Benjamin Moore's interior paint and primer in Taupe. Picking a paint with a build in primer also helped eliminate a step.

Step 5: To begin the painting process I poured some paint into a tray and took an old t-shirt (the softer, the better) and dipped it in the paint to apply the coat. The lighter and less paint you use the better. The goal is to really build up to the color you desire by applying light layers and letting them dry in between coats before applying another.

To finish the piece I took an angled paint brush and and some artist paint brushes to touch up the small crevices, and voila! Piece complete. Wait until piece is completely dry before reassembling the furniture.

And there you have it, a 5 step process for refinishing a piece of wood furniture. Questions? Ask away in the comments below!